Joaquin remains mystery to most residents

Few know. Even people who lived their whole lives in San Joaquin County.

I asked Leigh Johnsen, archivist of the San Joaquin Historical Society and Museum.

"I have no idea," Johnsen said.

That tends to prove my point.

Johnsen retreated to the history books. Joaquim - with an "m" - was the Virgin Mary's father. Early Christian writings say he was a good father. He taught Mary strong family values.

The Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga named a river after Joaquim on an 1813 expedition. Spanish soldiers and padres often named things based on the calendar of feast days. Presumably Moraga struck the river on Joaquim's feast day.

Joaquin (Spanish "n" replacing Hebrew "m") is obscure because Catholic authorities, deciding writings about him were unreliable, cut him from the Bible.

The unique thing here is that most California places, such as San Francisco, are named for saints in the "canon," the early Christian writings considered to be God's divine truth. Joaquin was relegated to the New Testament Apochrypha, a sort of collection of biblical outtakes.

Residents of San Joaquin County live in a place named for a man who may have been Mary's father; who may have been nobody; or who may not have existed at all.